2011ApJ...728...31L

We present time-resolved photometric observations of the Jupiter family comet 17P/Holmes during its dramatic 2007 outburst. The observations, from the orbiting Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI), provide the most complete measure of the whole-coma brightness, free from the effects of instrumental saturation and with a time resolution well matched to the rapid brightening of the comet. The light curve is divided into two distinct parts. A rapid rise between the first SMEI observation on UT 2007 October 24 06h 37m (mid-integration) and UT 2007 October 25 is followed by a slow decline until the last SMEI observation on UT 2008 April 6 22h 16m (mid-integration). We find that the rate of change of the brightness is reasonably well described by a Gaussian function having a central time of UT 2007 October 24.54±0.01 and a full width at half-maximum of 0.44±0.02 days. The maximum rate of brightening occurs some 1.2 days after the onset of activity. At the peak, the scattering cross-section grows at 1070±40 km2/s while the (model-dependent) mass loss rates inferred from the light curve reach a maximum at 3x10⁵ kg/s. The integrated mass in the coma lies in the range (2-90)x10¹⁰ kg, corresponding to 0.2%-10% of the nucleus mass, while the kinetic energy of the ejecta is (0.7-30) megatonnes TNT. The particulate coma mass could be contained within a shell on the nucleus of thickness 1-60 m. This is also the approximate distance traveled by conducted heat in the century since the previous outburst of 17P/Holmes. This coincidence is consistent with, but does not prove, the idea that the outburst was triggered by the action of conducted heat, possibly through the crystallization of buried amorphous ice.